Report underlines need for more midwives

A number of areas in England do not have enough midwives to ensure safe patient care, according to a report by the health and social care quality regulator.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said it had identified concerns relating to maternity services in a number of trusts, typically involving staffing levels, the quality of clinical care and learning from incidents.

Its report cites NHS figures for 2011 showing that up to eight per cent of women who came into contact with maternity services experienced poor care of some kind.

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The service faces three main challenges: the country's rising birth rate; the increasing complexity of births; and insufficient staffing levels, with figures indicating that long-term vacancy rates for midwives have increased steadily in recent years.

Louise Silverton, deputy general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, expressed deep concern at the findings.

She said: 'This supports and highlights all we have been saying for many years about the shortage of midwives and the need for serious investment in maternity services.

'A failure to have adequate numbers of midwives leads to mistakes and lower quality care.'

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